Comments on: Controls: ActiveX vs. Forms

By: Chandni

Chandni — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:55:00 +0000

But i want to use Change event property in Excel 2007. And ActiveX controls does’t works in 2007.

By: Dick Kusleika

Dick Kusleika — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Forms controls don’t have change events, only an OnAction property. You have to use ActiveX controls if you want events.

By: Chandni

Chandni — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:37:00 +0000

How to get change event for form controls in Excel.

By: Calan

Calan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:10:00 +0000

I am having some trouble with my embedded Active X forms.

I have a number of embedded controls on a worksheet (text boxes, combo boxes and labels) inserted using the Control Toolbox.

When the controls become activated, the height, width and text grow.
When they loose focus they return to the original size and text size.
An image of the effect is here: http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image1he9.gif

I am running Excel 2003 and have Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library referenced. However, the same thing happens with Excel 2007.

The following kind of fixes the problem

Private Sub TextBox1_LostFocus()

TextBox1.Width = 99.75

TextBox1.Height = 14.25

TextBox1.Font.Size = 10

End Sub

Private Sub TextBox1_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)

TextBox1.Width = 99

TextBox1.Height = 13.5

TextBox1.Font.Size = 9

End Sub

However it only works when you select the form and then click in the workbook. If you select one Active X controls and then select another, the previously selected control forms grows until you wiggle the mouse and then it shrinks again.

The form controls (inserted using the forms toolbox) do not have this problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Calan.

By: thomas david

thomas david — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:17:00 +0000

I have been using the Textbox Active-X Control, but could really use something where the the font size and attributes for text inside the box can be changed. Perhaps there is a way with the standard Excel control but it is not readily apparent to me, or maybe another Textbox tool that does this is available?

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 16:34:00 +0000

My preference is to use ActiveX controls. I find them more secure & easier to protect (location, size, macro) from tampering or accidental changes & corruption.

By: Andy Miller

Andy Miller — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 14:20:00 +0000

I do believe that the Form controls are there as left-overs from past versions. I tend to not use them often for a couple reasons. For one, like has been mentioned before, I like the control over the variable that the ActiveX controls give me. For another, I once had a workbook that had quite a large number of form controls (it was one that I had inherited, and it was created in an older version of Excel) get corrupted on me. Most of my calls to public functions got corrupted, including any sub called by a form control. Also, I do have a fear of relying on the ‘old’ controls knowing that Microsoft may decide not to support them with any new version.

By: ross

ross — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 10:32:00 +0000

The main version of excel where I work is 97, so I am forced to use form controls with chart sheets (I think this might have changed in later versions, I’m not sure now!). But apart form that I use activeX as I much prefer the “control” I can have over the control. I’ve never really come across any bugs – save the odd button taking a while to show up – and on the scale of development I’m doing, and with modern PC’s, over heads have never really been an issue. Interesting points though because I would never have thought about the advantages of using form controls.
I have often wondered, (well, maybe not often, but once or twice defiantly) if form control will be removed – esp. if .net is introduced

By: Jamie Collins

Jamie Collins — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 09:51:00 +0000

I use the ActiveX controls because I am invariably using classes i.e. I can use a WithEvents object variable that references an ActiveX control.

The Forms controls can only run a single public Sub located in a standard module, I guess because it is using a callback that requires the procedure's memory address. Standard modules don't really fit with my OOP development approach.

So if my control requires code then I will use the ActiveX version. Yes, they are buggy, some more than others. It pays to do testing and googling to be aware of any issues before investing too much development time.

Jamie (Sorry, not a Richard).

By: Dick

Dick — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:53:00 +0000

Rich, Richard and Dick, all in the same comments section. That’s a great point, Rich. I haven’t used a Mac in about 8 years. Thanks for the contribution.